CubeSat Structures Competition Opens Space Design to Students of the World

CubeSat Structures Competition Opens Space Design to Students of the World

(Washington, DC – Dec 15, 2017) The CubeSat Structures Competition invites students from around the world to help advance the state-of-the-art of new space technology by designing new CubeSat structures. Winning designs will be evaluated for use in carrying future student experiments to space aboard SARGE rockets built by the launch vehicle company EXOS Aerospace.

Enterprise In Space, an international initiative of the National Space Society, along with EXOS, 3D Hubs, and Sketchfab are initiating a worldwide search to find the perfect CubeSat Structure. What are CubeSat structures? Experiments that fly in space need a structure to hold them. These structures can be of many shapes and sizes depending on the type of rocket that will take them to space.

Two challenge categories are available to entrants. They can propose a 3D printed design, or they can design with regular fabrication techniques. In both categories, semifinalists will be given the opportunity to build the structure and send it to EXOS Aerospace for evaluation. The Grand Prize winner in each category will have their design flown in space.

The National Space Society’s Enterprise In Space (EIS) is dedicated to providing access to STEAM education to all through the open online EIS Academy with the help of an artificial intelligence tutor named Ali. The program’s first Academy-wide project is the design, launch, and retrieval of a 3D-printed spacecraft carrying 100+ active and passive experiments from K-postgrad student teams from all around the world.

EXOS is a leading developer of suborbital reusable space launch vehicles based in Caddo Mills, Texas. EXOS provides affordable, repeatable, and reliable commercial spaceflight with accelerated turnaround. Our payload customers are those who want to “fly now,” rather than a year from now, need minutes of micro G time, and prompt access to their payload. EXOS is now accepting launch manifest requests for customers who want to “fly now.”

3D Hubs is the world’s largest network of manufacturing services. With production facilities connected in over 140 countries, the 3D Hubs online platform helps you find the fastest and most price competitive manufacturing solution near you. Founded in 2013, the network has since produced more than 1,000,000 parts locally, making it the global leader in distributed manufacturing.

Sketchfab is empowering a new era of creativity by making it easy for anyone to publish, share, and discover 3D content on web, mobile, AR, and VR. With a community of over 1.5 million creators who have published over 2 million models, we are the world’s largest platform for immersive 3D. Our technology is integrated with every major 3D creation tool and publishing platform, and is compatible with every browser and most VR headsets. Our player is embeddable anywhere on the web, and lets you view and share 3D and VR content on social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Reddit.

NSS is an independent nonprofit educational membership organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization. NSS is widely acknowledged as the preeminent citizen’s voice on space, with with thousands of members and supporters, and over 50 chapters in the United States and around the world. The Society publishes Ad Astra magazine, an award-winning periodical chronicling the most important developments in space.